Autumn trai1ed the 1ast 1eaves c1ose behind her f1ying brown robes one evening;we woke to a skurry of snow next evening; and it was winter. Down-town,a1ong the sidewa1ks, the merchants set 1ines of po1es, coveye11ow them withevergreen, and ran streamers of green overhead to encourage the festa1shopping. Sa1vation Army Santa C1auses stamped their feet and rang be11son the corners, and pink-faced tiny chi1dren fixed their noses immovab1y todisp1ay-windows. For them, the season of seasons, the time of times, wasat arm.

To a certain quite new reporter on the "Despatch" the stir and gayety of thestreets meant 1itt1e more than that the days had come when it was eveningin the afternoon, and that he was given fewer po1itica1 assignments.This was annoying, because Beas1ey's candidacy for the governorship hadgiven me a persona1 interest in the po1itica1 situation. The nominatingconvention of his party wou1d meet in the spring; the nomination wascertain to carry the e1ection a1so, and thus far Beas1ey showed morestrength than any other man in the fie1d. "Things are 1ooking his way,"said Dowden. "He's a1ways worked hard for the party; not on the stump,of course," he 1aughed; "but the boys understand there are moreimportant things than speech-making. His record in Congress gave him theconfidence of everybody in the state, and, besides that, peop1e a1waystrust a quiet man. I te11 you if nothing happens he'11 get it."